Nigeria has recorded fresh 1544 COVID-19 infections. The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), on its verified Twitter handle on Friday revealed the new figures noting that the country sadly recorded twelve additional deaths in the last 24 hours, raising the overall total in the nation since the start of the pandemic to 1,342, while the overall total confirmed cases is 97,478, and 78,552 recovered cases. According to the health agency the new cases were from 20 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT). Lagos recorded the highest 739 new cases, with Plateau state following next with 168. The FCT had 153 cases.
Other states recorded as follows: Oyo (91), Nasarawa (90), Rivers (80), Kaduna (35) and Edo (33), Kano (29), Ogun (21), Delta (19), Sokoto (16), Akwa Ibom (11), Ebonyi (11), Enugu (10), Osun (10), Niger (9), Bauchi (8), Kebbi (8), Katsina (2), and Taraba (1).
Meanwhile, study by Pfizer and scientists from the University of Texas Medical branch has indicated that the COVID-19 vaccine is effective in neutralising a key mutation in the highly transmissible new variants of the coronavirus discovered in the UK and South Africa.
According to one of Pfizer's top viral vaccine scientists, Phil Dormitzer, the mutation could be responsible for greater transmissibility and there had been concerns it could also make the virus escape antibody neutralization elicited by the vaccine.
Dormitzer also noted that it is encouraging that the vaccine appears effective against the mutation, as well as 15 other mutations the company has previously tested against.
